Eric the Red, Viking rover and founder of the first Scandinavian
settlement in Greenland, was one of the early Viking explorers
of North America.

Born in
Norway about 950, Eric Thorvaldsson, who is known as Eric the
Red, left that country as a child when his father, Thorvald, was
exiled to Iceland. The family settled in the western part of the
island, where Greenland could be seen 175 miles away. He married
Thorhild, daughter of Jorund Atlisson, and probably as part of
her dowry received land at Eriksstadir in Haukadale. His thralls
caused a landslide to overwhelm the home of Valthiof and his
family, whose kinsman Eyjolf in turn slew the thralls. In
retaliation Eric killed Eyjolf and as a result was banished from
Haukadale.

Eric retired to an island, leaving with Thorgest his diasposts,
which were Viking symbols of authority and had religious
significance. On Eric's return Thorgest refused to surrender
them so Eric stole them. Knowing he would be pursued, he
prepared an ambush for Thorgest in which the pursuer's sons were
killed. Thorgest went to court, and the Thorness Thing in 981
outlawed Eric in Iceland and Norway for 3 years.

Having purchased a boat for such a contingency, Eric decided
upon a typical Viking voyage of plunder. He had heard about the
"Greater Ireland" settlements in Greenland; in the spring of 981
he steered his 100-foot-long ship westward. His was hardly a
voyage based on a romantic urge to discover new lands.

Eric landed in the area of Julianehaab, but the group arrived
too late to reap a full reward, for the Irish settlers had left.
The first winter was spent at Eric's Island near the middle of
the "eastern settlements," and the next spring he proceeded to
Eriksfjord. During subsequent summers explorations were made on
the western side of the island as far north as Snaefells; the
Davis Strait was crossed to Baffin Island, then abundant with
game. Eric returned to Iceland in 985 convinced that Greenland,
more clement than now, was better adapted for stock raising than
Iceland.

The next year Eric set out to found a settlement in Greenland.
About 14 ships out of 25 arrived with about 350 colonists, plus
livestock and gear. They settled on the eastern shore. Each sea
captain claimed a fjord to which he gave his name, Eric dwelling
at Brattahlid in Eriksfjord. Here he lived like a jarl (lord)
with his wife and four children. The latter included sons Leif,
Thorvald, and Thorstein and an illegitimate daughter, Freydis.
All four explored North America.

Leif brought Christianity to Greenland in 998, but Eric remained
true to his pagan gods. He became estranged from his wife, who
accepted the new faith and built at Brattahlid the first church
in Greenland. In 999 at odds with both wife and son Leif, Eric
attempted unsuccessfully a trip to Leif's Vinland with his son
Thorstein the Unlucky. They failed to reach Newfoundland, but as
the doughty Eric said, "We were more cheerful when we put out of
the fjord in the summer; but at least we are still alive, and it
might have been worse." He is last mentioned in the sagas in
1005.

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Erik the Red (950–c. 1003) founded the first Nordic settlement
in Greenland. Born in the Jæren district of Rogaland, Norway as
the son of Þorvaldr Ásvaldsson (Thorvald Asvaldsson), he
therefore also appears, patronymically, as Erik Thorvaldsson (or
as Eiríkr Þorvaldsson). The appellation "the Red" most likely
refers to his hair colour.

Exiles

Erik the Red's parents had to flee Norway because of "some
killings" as The Saga of Eric the Red recounts. The family
settled in western Iceland. The Icelanders later sentenced Erik
to a three-year exile for several murders around the year 982.
According to The Saga of Eirik the Red, his neighbour Thorgest
borrowed a shovel and when it did not come back to Erik, he
sought an explanation. When Thorgest refused to return it, Erik
stole the shovel back. In the ensuing chase, he killed Thorgest.
A second crime laid at Erik's door occurred when he insisted
upon revenge for the deaths of his slaves who had "accidentally
started a landslide" on Valthjof's farm. Valthjof murderously
punished the slaves for this misfortune. Erik did not take
kindly to this and so slew Valthjof. The Icelanders eventually
convicted Erik of these murders and banished him from Iceland.
This event led him and a group of followers to travel to the
lands nearly 500 miles west of Iceland.

Discoveries

Even though popular history credits Erik as the first person to
find Greenland, earlier Norsemen both discovered and tried to
settle it before him. Tradition credits Gunnbjörn Ulfsson (also
known as Gunnbjörn Ulf-Krakuson) with the first sighting of the
land-mass. Nearly a century earlier, strong winds had driven
Gunnbjörn towards a land he called "Gunnbjarnarsker" ("Gunnbjörn's
skerries"). But the accidental nature of Gunnbjörn's discovery
has led to his neglect in the history of Greenland. After
Gunnbjörn, Snaebjörn Galti had also visited Greenland. According
to records from the time, Galti headed the first Norse attempt
to colonize Greenland, an attempt that ended in disaster. Erik
the Red was the first permanent European settler.

In this context, about 982, Erik sailed to a somewhat mysterious
and little-known land. He rounded the southern tip of the island
(later known as Cape Farewell) and sailed up the western coast.
He eventually reached a part of the coast that, for the most
part, seemed ice-free and consequently had conditions—similar to
those of Iceland—that promised growth and future prosperity.
According to the Saga of Erik the Red, he spent his three years
of exile exploring this land. He named this land "Greenland"
because he wanted to attract other people to it. The first
winter he spent on the island of Eiriksey, the second winter he
passed in Eiriksholmar (close to Hvarfsgnipa). In the final
summer he explored as far north as Snaefell and in to
Hrafnsfjord.

When Erik returned to Iceland after his term of banishment had
expired, he brought with him stories of "Greenland". Erik
purposely gave the land a more appealing name than "Iceland" in
order to lure potential settlers. He explained, "people would be
attracted to go there if it had a favorable name". Ultimately,
though, he did this to gain favour among people, as he knew that
the success of any settlement in Greenland would need the
support of as many people as possible. His salesmanship proved
successful, as many people (especially "those Vikings living on
poor land in Iceland" and those that had suffered a "recent
famine") became convinced that Greenland held great opportunity.

After spending the winter in Iceland, Erik returned to Greenland
in 985 with a large number of colonists and established two
colonies on its southwest coast: the Eastern Settlement or
Eystribyggð, in modern-day Qaqortoq, and the Western Settlement
or Vestribyggð, close to present-day Nuuk. (Eventually, a Middle
Settlement grew up, but many people suggest this settlement
formed part of the Western Settlement.) The Eastern and Western
Settlements, both established on the southwest coast, proved the
only two areas suitable for farming. During the summers, when
the weather conditions favoured travel more, each settlement
would send an army of men to hunt in Disko Bay above the Arctic
Circle for food and other valuable commodities such as seals
(used for rope), ivory from tusks, and beached whales (if they
had good luck). In these expeditions, they probably encountered
the Inuit (Eskimo) people, who had not yet moved into southern
Greenland.

Eystribyggð

In Eystribyggð, Erik built the estate Brattahlíð, near
present-day Narsarsuaq, for himself. He held the title of
paramount chieftain of Greenland and became both greatly
respected and wealthy. The settlement venture involved
twenty-five ships, fourteen of which made the journey
successfully; of the other eleven, some turned back, while
others disappeared at sea.

The settlement flourished, growing to 5000 inhabitants spread
over a considerable area along Eriksfjord and neighboring
fjords. Groups of immigrants escaping overcrowding in Iceland
joined the original party. However, one group of immigrants
which arrived in 1002 brought with it an epidemic that ravaged
the colony, killing many of its leading citizens, including Erik
himself. Nevertheless, the colony rebounded and survived until
the Little Ice Age made the land marginal for European
life-styles in the 15th century (shortly before Christopher
Columbus's voyage to the Canary Islands in 1492). Pirate raids,
conflict with Inuit moving into the Norse territories, and the
colony's abandonment by Norway became other factors in its
decline.

Erik's descendants

History records that Erik and his wife Þjóðhildr (Thjodhildr)
had four children: a daughter, Freydís, and three sons, the
explorer Leif Eiríksson, Þorvald (Thorvald) and Þorsteinn (Thorstein).
Erik himself remained a follower of Norse paganism, unlike his
son Leif and Leif's wife, who built the first Christian church
in the Americas on their farm. (Despite speculation, it seems
unlikely that Leif pioneered the introduction of Christianity to
Greenland.)

While not the first to sight the North American continent, Leif
Erikson became the first Viking to explore the land of Vinland
(part of North America in modern-day Newfoundland). Leif invited
his father on the voyage, but according to legend Erik fell off
his horse on his way to the ship and took this as a bad sign,
leaving his son to continue without his company. Erik died the
winter after his son's departure. Leif was unaware of his
father's death until he got back to Greenland.

Norse settlement in Greenland

For much of the time that the Norse survived in Greenland, they
had a very tough life that demanded finding a balance between
maintaining population-levels and finding enough food and
supplies to survive. Most of the time they had just enough
supplies to continue their societies. Despite the Norse
settlers' constant struggle, at Norse Greenland's peak at c.
1126 the inhabitants numbered between 2000 and 4000. The Eastern
Settlement had around "190 small farms, 12 parish churches, a
cathedral, an Augustinian monastery and a Benedictine nunnery".
Even though smaller than the Eastern Settlement, the Western
Settlement still had "90 farms and four churches", while the
smallest Middle Settlement had only around "20 farms". Despite
enjoying what some might consider a reasonable amount of time on
Greenland in conjunction with varying times of successes and
failures, the Norse settlement in Greenland did not last more
than 500 years. Jared Diamond gives a rationale for this, as
have others. He presents a five-step process that explains the
collapse of civilizations and offers Greenland as an example of
this process.

The Norse had found a "virgin" piece of land that they altered
in ways they believed would bring the greatest reward but which
in fact damaged their environment. Then too, they had become
separated from their kin in Europe for so long that most of
their friendships and alliances had fallen away, hurting some of
their trading and eventual protection; political changes in
Europe hastened this process. Perhaps more significantly, a
change in climate in the North Atlantic led to an increase in
sea-ice, making communication with Europe difficult, and
favouring migrations of the Inuit from northern Greenland to the
south and to regular contact with the Norse, leading to violence
between the races. Finally, and most importantly, the Norse
failed to adapt fully to their surroundings. They clung too much
to familiar ways of living that proved ultimately unsuitable in
Greenland.

Despite the apparent failure of the Norse Greenland colonies,
they mark one of the great achievements in Norse expansion and
exploration.